Actually before Vista there a one visual clue. If during the drag and drop it was going to be a copy a + would appear and for a shortcut a shortcut icon would appear.
The real improvement here is that in Vista the clue says where the file will go. Helpful when dropping to a subfolder in a folder to make sure it goes in the subfolder and not the folder.
Also your “Drag file = Move File” is incorrect, when just dragging the end action is determined my certain things.
* Drag file from drive to same drive is move
* Drag file from drive to different drive is copy
* In certain cases Drag executable file is create shortcut

Is there a way to change the default so if you drag a file into a shortcut folder, it moves it instead of copying it? Rather than having to use shift or right-click drag?

Cheers, Dan

DID YOU KNOW?

Between 1993 and 2009, law enforcement agencies in Europe believed they were dealing with a sophisticated female serial killer because her DNA had been found on diverse crime scenes throughout Austria, France, and Germany; it was determined, however, that the DNA from “The Phantom of Heilbronn” was actually from contamination at the (cotton swabs) factory of manufacture.